Torry Holt

Holt in November 2008 while playing for the Rams
No. 81     Jacksonville Jaguars
Wide receiver
Personal information
Date of birth: June 5, 1976 (1976-06-05) (age 33)
Place of birth: Gibsonville, North Carolina
Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Weight: 190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
College: North Carolina State
NFL Draft: 1999 / Round: 1 / Pick: 6
Debuted in 1999 for the St. Louis Rams
Career history
As player: St. Louis Rams (1999–2008) Jacksonville Jaguars (2009–present)
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
7× Pro Bowl selection (2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) 1× First-team All-Pro selection (2003) 1× Second-team All-Pro selection (2006) Super Bowl champion (XXXIV) Rams Rookie of the Year (1999) 2× Rams MVP (2003, 2005) NFL Records
Career NFL statistics as of week 17, 2008
Receptions	869
Receiving Yards	12,660
Receiving TDs	74
Stats at NFL.com

Torrance "Torry" Jabar Holt (born June 5, 1976 in Gibsonville, North Carolina) nicknamed "Big Game" is an American football All-Pro wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft, and spent the next ten years for this organization. He was one of the members of the famous Greatest Show on Turf. He played College football at North Carolina State University. Later, the Wolfpack retired Holt's jersey. In 1999, his rookie season, Holt won the Super Bowl and set Rookie records for receptions and yards.

He is the older brother of Terrence Holt who use to play safety in the NFL, but is now a free agent.

[edit] Early years

Holt was Prep Football Report All-America selection, adding All-State honors at Eastern Guilford High School. While there he caught 129 passes during his career, gaining 2,573 yards and scoring 42 touchdowns including 56 receptions for 983 yards and 17 touchdowns as senior. He also returned three punts and three kickoffs for touchdowns during his career. Additionally, Holt was a standout defensive back who posted 62 tackles and four interceptions as senior. He was named one of the Top 25 players in the state by the Charlotte Observer. After High School Holt attended Hargrave Military Academy in 1994. There he caught 21 passes for 524 yards and six touchdowns.

[edit] College career

Holt attended North Carolina State University and played wide receiver for the football team from 1995–1998. In his senior year Holt was named Atlantic Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year. That season he set ACC records of 88 receptions (since broken by Kenneth Moore of Wake Forest) for 1,604 yards and an NC State record of 16 touchdown receptions. Holt was a consensus All-America first-team selection as senior. He was also a finalist for the Fred Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s top receiver. As a junior he led the team, setting Wolfpack season records with 62 receptions for 1,099 yards, topping marks of 55 by Naz Worthen (1988) while becoming first player in team history to gain more than 1,000 yards in a season. He started in five of the first seven games as sophomore. He majored in sociology.

[edit] Professional career

[edit] St. Louis Rams

(* represents NFL Combine; ** represents North Carolina State Pro Day) ^[1][2]

After injuring his knee at the Senior Bowl, Holt, at 192 pounds, ran a 4.44 second 40-yard dash and had a vertical jump of 37 inches at the 1999 NFL Combine^[3][4]

Holt was the sixth overall draft pick in the 1999 NFL draft and the first selection made by the St. Louis Rams. In his rookie season he posted 53 receptions, 788 total yards and six touchdowns on the way to the Super Bowl XXXIV championship.

Since then Holt has consistently reached at least 1,300 yards every season through 2005. He in fact is the only receiver in NFL history to post six consecutive years of 1,300 yards receiving. Holt's streak was broken in 2006, due to injuries to himself and other teammates that hindered the offense for parts of the year. Holt came into the NFL as number 88, but in 2001 changed his number to 81 (worn by Az-Zahir Hakim previously) as it still stands today.

Holt's career also includes 7 Pro Bowls (2000, 2001, 2003-2007) including five straight, 74 career TD's for 446 points (including 2 2pt conversions) and 869 career receptions. He ranks among the top 10 active leaders in receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and receptions, and has finished in the top ten of those three categories in each of the last five seasons(2003–2007). Holt has also led the league in receiving yardage on two separate occasions (2000, 2003), and receptions once (2003). Holt is nearing the top ten for all-time receiving yards.

Holt led the NFL in receptions in 2003 and led the NFL in receiving yardage in 2000 and 2003. He was a First-team All-Pro in 2003 and a Second-team selection in 2006. On October 15, 2006, Holt became the fastest player in NFL history to reach 10,000 receiving yards doing so in the sixth game of his eighth season and also to 11,000 yards.

His request for a release was granted by the Rams on March 13, 2009^[5]. If not released, he would only have been due $5.65 and $6.65 million in the last two years of his contract and subsequently become a free agent in 2010.

Holt finished his 10-year career with the Rams starting 147 of 158 games, recording 869 receptions for 12,660 yards, and 74 touchdowns.

[edit] Jacksonville Jaguars

Holt was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars on April 20, 2009, to a 3-year, $20 million deal.^[6][7]

[edit] NFL records

• Consecutive seasons with at least 1,300 yards receiving (6).
• Consecutive seasons with 90+ receptions (6).
• Torry Holt along with Marvin Harrison are the only receivers with multiple 1,600 yard receiving seasons.
• Highest Average Gain, Game (3 receptions +), 63.00, Torry Holt, September 24, 2000
• 80.1 average receiving yards per game (career)
• Ranked first in the NFL from 2000-08 with 817 receptions for 11,872 yards and 562 first downs during that span
• reached 10,000 and 11,000 career receiving yards faster than any other player
• Super Bowl rookie record for receptions (seven) and receiving yards (109) in 1999

[edit] Personal

• Holt has appeared in television commercials for Fathead, Imo's Pizza, Phil Lynch's Barbershop, Burger King, Reebok, and the NFL Network.
• On his left arm, he has a tattoo of the letters 'TJH' for Torrance Jabar Holt.
• On his right arm he has a tattoo of the word 'disco'.
• He changed his number from 88 to 81 in 2001 after Az-Zahir Hakim, Holt's former teammate, went to the Detroit Lions following the 2001 free agency period.
• He created a foundation, during the 1999 offseason, dedicated to supporting the fight against cancer in all forms, with a specific emphasis on children. The Holt Foundation was established in 1999 in memory of his mother, Ojetta Holt-Shoffner.
• He is the spokesman, along with other St. Louis professional athletes, for the Diversity Awareness Partnership in St. Louis.
• Holt and his wife , Carla have three children , they reside in Town & Country, Missouri^[8].
• After breaking many fingers through his years in the NFL, he broke his middle finger in 2007 against the Steelers and has never reset it calling it his "trophy"^[9]
• Holt won the Pro Bowl's skill challenge for "Best Hands" every year he has participated

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Jacksonville Jaguars bio
• St. Louis Rams bio